Blackstone sells 8 pc stake in Mphasis for Rs 1,484-crore

Global private equity major Blackstonetodayoffloaded 8 per cent stake in mid-sized IT services exporter Mphasis for a little over Rs 1,484 crore through an open market transaction.

Following the stake-sale, Blackstone's holding in the company has fallen to around 52 per cent.

According to bulk deal data available with the NSE, Blackstone through its unit Marble II Pte sold a total of 1,54,60,815 shares, amounting to 8 per cent stake of Mphasis.

Shares were offloaded at Rs 960.09 a piece, valuing the transaction at Rs 1,484.37 crore, the data showed.

InApril 2016, Blackstone had bought Hewlett Packard Enterprise's 60.5 per cent stake in Mphasis at Rs 430 per share and made an open offer at Rs 457 per share in 2016.

As of March this year, the private equity giant held 60.38 per cent stake in mid-sized IT services exporter.

After the stake-sale, Blackstone India spokesperson said the company is committed to remaining a long-term majority shareholder of Mphasis and retaining control of the company.

"Today's block was strategically executed to create more liquidity in the stock and enable high quality long-term investors to participate in the Mphasis growth story. Blackstone does not intend to sell any additional stake," the spokesperson said in a statement.

Among the buyers of the shares are Nomura, Oppenheimer and First State Investments (Hong Kong) Ltd.